Proper lighting is a critical component of any operating room. Surgeons need ample lighting to illuminate the area on which the procedure is taking place. Modern surgery has evolved continuously to smaller opening incisions and more complex operating sites, all with the objective of leaving smaller scars and creating less discomfort for the patient. For example, in cosmetic surgery, among others, there is a need to perform better and more precise dissection between tissue layers deep in the site and a rising demand for better surgical tools to facilitate the surgeon's work and improve teaching skills. Electrocautery devices are often utilized to cauterize wounds, stop bleeding, or excise tissue.
To provide the needed illumination for increasingly complex surgeries, lighting in operating rooms has evolved from bulky overhead, adjustable lighting that can be shifted to point the light beam from different angles to headlamps worn on the heads of the surgeons or surrounding staff, to having a small lighting unit built into electrocautery that surgeons use to operate on patients.
Both overhead lighting and headlamp approach provide sufficient ambient lighting during surgery, but often fail at specifically illuminating the targeted deep field site. The adjustability of the overhead lighting is limited by its fixed position on the ceiling and its ability to be extended downward from the ceiling without hindering the surgeon's vision or movement. The headlamp approach allows the light to move with the surgeon, but requires the surgeon to tilt his head or adjust and maintain his body position to point the lamp at the targeted area. Even with these extra movements, which increase the possibility of error, the bulk of the light from headlamps are blocked and/or reflected by the skin around the small incision and fails to penetrate the skin and illuminate the inside of the incision where the surgical procedure is taking place.
Whereas certain electrocautery devices exist with built-in lighting components that attempt to carry the light pass the skin around the incision opening, they each have drawbacks that are addressed by the invention described herein. Since the internal construction of the human body is extremely complex, in order for a surgeon to properly and safely perform a more precise dissection between deep-site tissue layers, a more concentrated and pinpointed lighting is critical to aid the surgeon in cutting, dissection and cauterization. A lack of sufficient light at the treatment site within the patient's body may cause the doctor to accidentally injure other parts of the patient's body. Since electrocautery generally requires controlled application of radiofrequency energy to an operative tissue site, it is important that the site be properly illuminated for the surgeon to operate.
Better lighting inside the incision is also preferred for teaching purposes, both to point out the targeted area and also to illuminate the area when utilizing a camera or other audio-visual device to facilitate demonstrating the procedure to students.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved electrocautery apparatus and system to provide light that overcomes drawbacks and inadequacies of known methods and systems.